Dingleberry Dickwad:Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

Bit'O'Gristle:Dingleberry Dickwad: Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

/It comes down to where you live. Here in illinois, out in the country, you buy a pack of smokes for 3 bucks and some change. In NY, its like 10 or more usd. It depends on where you are. You wanna live in Cali? You're going to pay through the nose. Even for a shiathole place like in tfa.

That answered nothing. I'm asking why it's like that. About the only thing Cali has going for it is that it's warm year round and that's about it. New York doesn't have a single farking thing good about it that I can think of, yet it's expensive as fark. So I ask again, why?

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Honest to God, the Valley. I know it's got a stigma, but it's probably as close you'll get as middle between the two and it cuts out going through Downtown for one or both of you for your trip to work. As bad as the 405 will be going to Redondo most days it is NOTHING compared to getting not only into downtown but also through downtown. And once you get past the 5 split in Burbank the drive to Industry is cake.

I live in Sherman Oaks literally 60 seconds from a 101 onramp in a two bed, one bath, half kitchen, sitting area, living room with a one-car garage with a door and space for a second behind it for $1,295 per month. I can walk to two different supermarkets and the gigantic West Valley Park complex nearby. Now I live in a small 5 unit complex so I don't have a fenced yard, but you can get a house a street or two in either direction for under $2,000 per month easy (I know since I moved to this place in October).

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Honest to God, the Valley. I know it's got a stigma, but it's probably as close you'll get as middle between the two and it cuts out going through Downtown for one or both of you for your trip to work. As bad as the 405 will be going to Redondo most days it is NOTHING compared to getting not only into downtown but also through downtown. And once you get past the 5 split in Burbank the drive to Industry is cake.

I live in Sherman Oaks literally 60 seconds from a 101 onramp in a two bed, one bath, half kitchen, sitting area, living room with a one-car garage with a door and space for a second behind it for $1,295 per month. I can walk to two different supermarkets and the gigantic West Valley Park complex nearby. Now I live in a small 5 unit complex so I don't have a fenced yard, but you can get a house a street or two in either direction for under $2,000 per month easy (I know since I moved to this place in October).

zabadu:Dingleberry Dickwad: Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

The weather.

Ok, but I don't have to worry about earthquakes in buttfark Wisconsin. And the weather in New York isn't much different than Wisconsin, and it's less crowded and has less pollution. So again I ask what gives?

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Fullerton is a nice bedroom community about halfway between in your price rance. Orange and Anaheim have very nice and more marginal areas. Brea is also nice. I wouldn't go north of there. You have lots of choices in those areas I mentioned while staying on the freeway corridor.

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Torrance, or San Pedro.

Although I don't know where City of Industry is. Sounds like something east of the 405, where I dare not venture. On a map, anything east of the 405 might as well say "Thar be dragons", except for Disneyland.

drayno76:Case in point... Leaving Florida, been her 12 years after escaping the cold a$$ north. Heading back home in 2 years after I finish this contract. Florida is fun,but toooo farkin weird. Out grew my willingness to put up with B.S. for a hot girl with tight a$$ in a bikini. Just isn't worth it anymore.

Negligible:skullkrusher: Mikey1969: I have a 5 bedroom house with 2 family/bonus rooms(plus living room and dining room), 2 1/2 baths, 3,000 sq ft and a double car garage, that sits on about a quarter of an acre.

For $1500/month

/in Utah

location, location, location

If it's location, location, location, why the hell is LA property so expensive?Worst... city... ever.Actually I reserve that eternally for Phoenix but LA isn't far behind.

Dingleberry Dickwad:zabadu: Dingleberry Dickwad: Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

The weather.

Ok, but I don't have to worry about earthquakes in buttfark Wisconsin. And the weather in New York isn't much different than Wisconsin, and it's less crowded and has less pollution. So again I ask what gives?

Earthquakes do not happen in all of California, and they only happen occasionally. Would not live in a place I have to dig out from snow, or be worried about tornadoes or hurricanes.

Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

Because very few people dream of moving to Wisconsin...

SF/LA/NY/SEA are desirable because they are actual places -- opportunity abounds for most anyone who has the determination to make things happen.

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Lakewood/Pico Rivera/Downey would work. I lived in Long Beach for years (next to Lakewood), it's a pretty good hub, all the LA freeways radiate out of there because of the port.

I've also lived in Long Beach. That's not a bad in-between mark beween City of Industry and Redondo. And yeah, those highways are great for Long Beach folks. Property values aren't as crazy as other parts of LA county, IMHO. And, depending on your preference for social life/shopping, you can either do sleepy downtown Long Beach, LA, or if you are more suburban in tastes - Orange County (Costa Mesa, Irvine, etc).

Solid State Vittles:Threads like this are always just teeming with derp. Who cares where you live and what you pay? The article is about a dick landlord, not how awesome/terrible it is where you live/used to live.

skullkrusher:Mikey1969: I have a 5 bedroom house with 2 family/bonus rooms(plus living room and dining room), 2 1/2 baths, 3,000 sq ft and a double car garage, that sits on about a quarter of an acre.

For $1500/month

/in Utah

location, location, location

Even with the wacky drinking laws here, I'd rather live in Utah than most parts of California. WAY too many goddamned people. Too many helicopters. Too many sirens at night. Too many gunshots. Too much traffic.

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

I hear Fort Ord is real nice. The streets are so empty blind people are allowed to drive there.

Negligible:skullkrusher: Mikey1969: I have a 5 bedroom house with 2 family/bonus rooms(plus living room and dining room), 2 1/2 baths, 3,000 sq ft and a double car garage, that sits on about a quarter of an acre.

For $1500/month

/in Utah

location, location, location

If it's location, location, location, why the hell is LA property so expensive?

zabadu:kiwimoogle84: lockers: Rufus Lee King: It's pure racism. White people get to pay less for their apartments than minorities do.

What's really funny is that as a white person they rip up the check so it never affects your balance when you do pay rent. Paying for things is for minorities.

Paying for things is for minorities? Geez, as a hetero, average weight Caucasian female in her late 20's, I'm doing it wrong.

Not to mention... MAYBE MOVE OUT OF LA. You can rent a nice 3bed house in Sacramento and the suburbs for $1,200 a month. I had a large 1bed with a walk in closet in a nice neighborhood for $725. So not all of California sucks for rent. Just the lower third.

/an hour away from both SF and Tahoe

But then you have to live in Sacramento.

/raised in Sacramento/lived in L.A for 10 years/came back for sick father/now has sick mother/can't wait to leave this cowtown of a crap joint.

/SF and Tahoe an hour away because you DO NOT WANT TO STAY IN SACRAMENTO

I used to live in SF.

/never moving back//too expensive///it's nice to be able to go outside and not have people all around me at all times

I rent a 3 bedroom house in San Jose. Across the street there is a trailer park with razor wire. Down the road about 1/4 mile is where all the migrant workers mill around waiting for jobs, all day, every day. Our backyard is the size of a postage stamp. Rent is $2800/month.

This is why $125K/yr is a salary that nearly qualifies for low-income assistance.

Dingleberry Dickwad:Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

In California, it's the mountains and the water. This does 2 things.

1) It sharply limits the amount of available space. (The Bay area is REALLY terrible about this. You're either in the valley or looking at a 3-hour one-way commute over a couple mountain ranges (or possibly both because the entire East and South Bays suck.))2) It constrains the road network into funnels and sharply limits the space that can be given over to roads leading to terrible traffic. If there's exactly one road leading from Point A to Point B, I have no choice but to grin and bear it, and if all the roads are 2 lanes tops (where they ought to be 3 lanes minimum with 4-7 lane highways). Which means that I have a 4-mile commute that can take up to an hour.

And they do pay more. Chicago was offering 45K-55K compared to Seattle's 90K (or SF's 72K. (which I took. Lulz)). They just don't pay enough more to justify the expense. Hence why all the "I did everything right and my finances suck" people are from the coasts. When a house is $70K, I can pick it up with petty change on a 10-year mortgage. When a house is starting at a million, that's half my lifetime earnings post-tax.

/Also, in SF, there need to be 2 US 101's. 1 101 where people can back up and get onto the bridges across the Bay, and 1 101 where people heading up to the city can just drive over the clusterfark that is the bridge onramps. Because (other than Google traffic down in Mountain View), that's the big backup for 101.//Either that or they need to make it easier to get to 280.

que.guero:Ok, so here's what I don't get. From what I understand jobs don't really pay more in places like California, Seattle or New York, so why the fark is the cost of living so much higher, and why are houses so much more expensive? I've been told once that my simple little 2 bedroom house with a moderate sized back yard would sell for twice as much as it does around here in bumfark Wisconsin. What gives?

Because very few people dream of moving to Wisconsin...

SF/LA/NY/SEA are desirable because they are actual places -- opportunity abounds for most anyone who has the determination to make things happen.

Places like Wisconsin are where people end up, nothing personal..

Bwwahahahahahaha! You, I like you. If you want to call higher chances to get shot, mugged, ripped off, have your kids go to overcrowded schools and all the other problems you constantly hear about places like NY, LA,SF, etc opportunity, then I guess you're right. I'll grant you that in those places you don't have to deal with dipshiat backwoods bigoted rednecks as much as you would in WI, but still seems a small price to pay for lower cost of living and lack of the issues I mentioned.

And I didn't finish my thought. And since it takes forever to get anywhere, it's hard to spread out and people are willing to pay more to live closer to work. A 10 mile commute is not bad if it's a 15 minute commute. That same 10 miles, turned into an hour and a half, is a bit of a dealbreaker.

/Looking at you Boston. 13 mile commute on a single line of the T was a hour and 20 minutes.//Getting home could take over 2 hours.

"clogged sinks, dysfunctional electrical outlets You mean plural, as in they have MORE than ONE?Lucky devils-makes you wonder how the poor people live...

Seriously though; having lived in SoCal and NoCal most my life, what appears to be "high" rent elsewhere in the country is a common occurrence in California. They say New York is worse, but can't comment as I've never lived there-

/Moving back to OC Friday-spent the last 8 years doing time in Cleveland, Ohio. Fully expect the "sticker shock" upon my return- Fortunately, (historically) the (employment) wages were commensurate with the higher cost of living. I'll never afford retirement or home ownership there. THAT dream has withered and blew away like a fart in the wind-

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

The location of your jobs means that one of you will have to commute significantly further unless you want to live in South-Central Los Angeles (roughly defined as the area between the 405, the 5, and the 10 freeways, though there are pockets of good in there. I do not recommend living in your average municipality in that area if you have the means to live elsewhere, most of those neighborhoods have bars on the windows, or are just plain ghetto. You'll do fine in Redondo/Hermosa, but you might have sticker shock on the prices. Note, however, that I have never rented a home in this area, single apartments in this area are all over $1k a month. Also your commute to City of Industry will be long, basically nightmarish long depending on the time of day since you'll likely have to use more than 2 freeways to reduce the distance (there are no southwest-to-northeast freeways in that area).

There are some nice areas in Whittier/ La Mirada that might be in your price range, and while not rich, they're certainly not as bad as south-central. You likely won't find many bars on the windows there. Your wife will unfortunately have to commute a ways, but she can use the 105, which is almost a straight shot between work/home from that area.

You could just say f-it and move to orange county, but then both of you would have very long commutes.

You could move to Long Beach, there are nice areas in Long Beach, Lakewood, & Cerritos. Those areas are not OC. That area generally gets a nice ocean breeze, especially Long Beach proper. However, again, both of you would have fairly lengthy commutes depending on time of day. The good news with Lakewood & Cerritos is they contract out their police services to LA County Sheriff, which is the most professional police force in the state (and it shows when stacked up against LAPD).

You can likely find some places in and around Pasadena that are nice, however, your wifes commute to the beach cities then becomes a big deal.

I can't find a good solution because your jobs straddle the ghetto in a way that makes freeway use difficult, unless you want to live in Downtown Los Angeles or the ghetto. You can find pockets of non-bar-window neighborhoods in the large swath of Southern California known as South Central, but they are few and far between, and in this era of major municipal budget cuts, I wouldn't trust those neighborhoods to remain good bets.

Wife and I just moved to LA a few weeks ago. We're staying with a friend near where I work until we can find a permanent place. And negotiating neighborhoods and rents is like Chinese algebra (in some cases LITERALLY, since some real estate listings are actually written in Chinese).

Can a native-type person let me know where I should be looking to live?

Difficulty:

1) Job is in City of Industry. Wife's job is in Redondo/Hermosa. Yeah, I know.2) Need a single-family house with fenced yard, as we have a rescue Greyhound.3) I can't live where there are bars on the windows. I want my parents to come visit.4) $2,000-$2,200 would be a good rent window.5) At least 2 bedrooms.

I don't mind a bit of a commute. Wife and I both have cars and solid work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

/fark is not your personal house-hunting site

Honest to God, the Valley. I know it's got a stigma, but it's probably as close you'll get as middle between the two and it cuts out going through Downtown for one or both of you for your trip to work. As bad as the 405 will be going to Redondo most days it is NOTHING compared to getting not only into downtown but also through downtown. And once you get past the 5 split in Burbank the drive to Industry is cake.

I live in Sherman Oaks literally 60 seconds from a 101 onramp in a two bed, one bath, half kitchen, sitting area, living room with a one-car garage with a door and space for a second behind it for $1,295 per month. I can walk to two different supermarkets and the gigantic West Valley Park complex nearby. Now I live in a small 5 unit complex so I don't have a fenced yard, but you can get a house a street or two in either direction for under $2,000 per month easy (I know since I moved to this place in October).